Automobile-door lock



L. R. E.'WASKVINS AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCK Nov. 27, 1923.

Filed March 9, 1922 Zfou R Was/HHS 61H02 nel!! Patented Nov. 27, 1923.

unire 'amies LoUrs n. E. wAsKrivs, or Ensnwnrnmeononnno.

AUcLoivrorrLn-noonl LOCK.

Application led March 9, 1922. Serial No. 542,274.

To all whom t may concern.' 1

Be it known that I, Louis It. E. WAsniNs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Edgewater, county of Jefferson, and State of i Colorado, have invented certain newv and useful Improvements in Automobile-Door Locks; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this speciiication-` This invention relates to locks and has special reference to a lock adapted to be applied to an automobile door. A

It is well known that automobile door locks of the ordinary construction require the door to be closed with considerable force for the reason that the bolt usually projects from the lock and must be moved back against the spring tension and the friction.

It is the object of this Vinvention to produce a lock which shall be so designed that when the bolt is withdrawn on opening the door it will be held in retracted position until the door is again closed. `When the door has reached a position in which it is nearly closed, an automatically operated means will release the bolt'which will then bey projected outwardly by means of a spring. In the manner just described it becomes possible to close the doors gently and still secure successful operation of the lock.

In order to more clearly describe my invention, I shall have reference to the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 shows an elevation of an automobile car door withV parts broken away to show the location of the lock.

Fig. 2 is a section showing the relative location of parts with the bolt in unlocking position.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and shows the relative position of the parts with the bolt in locking position.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4-4 Fig. 3. j

Fig. 5 is a'view similar to Fig. 3 showing a slightly modified form of lock.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6 6 Fig. 5 showing the lock in operative position and Fig. I is a section similar to that shown in Fig. 6 showing the bolt in unlocking position.

- The same reference numerals will be used to indicate the same parts throughout'the several views. I

Numeral 1 represents the side door of a automobile and 2 represents the lock which I will now describe. 8 represents a 'shallow box-like housing similar to that usually employed in connection with ordinary locks. Slidably connected `with the casing is a bolt 4A which is guided in its movements by lugs 5. A Spring 'engages the inner end of the f bolt 4 and tends to keep it normally in the projected position shown in Fig. 3.

In order to reciprocate the bolt 4,v I'provide a bell Vcrank lever 7 which is pivoted to the casing by means of a pivot 8. The vertical arm 9 of the bell crank carries a pin 10r which engages with the transverse slot 11 in bolt 4. When arm 9 is rocked about the pivot 8 by means of a handle which may be attached to the pivot 8 or by other means which will be hereinafter described, the bolt 4 will be reciprocated between the guides 5.'

Bell crank 7 has a substantially horizontal arm 12 and this is provided with a pin 13,

which co-operates with a slot 14 in the lower end of handle 15.y When the handle' 15. is pulled upwardly against the tension of spring 16, it will rotate the bell crank lever in a clockwise direction and move the bolt 4 inwardly against the tension of spring 6.

In order to hold the bolt in retracted position after it has been moved to that position by the handle 15, I providenear the outer .end thereof a notch 17 and arranged transversely of bolt 4 is a locking Lmember 18 the bolt 4 is pulledV back sufficiently to bring the notch in line with the locking member, the bolt will be held in retracted position until member 18 is moved upwardly a suicient distance to disengage it from the notch. In order to secure the automaticrelease of bolt 4 when the door is closed, I extend the lower end of locking member 18 out through the lower side of housingV 8 and provide it with a roller 22 whose function it is to engage the incline 23 on the doorjamb as the door is closed. When the roller 22 strikes the in-l cline 23 it will move the locking member-18 'the door is closed, when it will be automati-V cally released by means of the incline 23 roller 22 and locking member 18.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7, I have showna slightly .modified form of lock in which the sliding locking member 118 has been replaced by a locking member v26 which is pivotal'ly connected to the front ot the housing by means of a .pivot 27. A spring 28 is provided :t'orthe purpose of biasing member 26 in a countercloc-kwise direction. Bolt 4L isprovided on its upper surface with a notch 29 into which locking member 26 drops when the vbolt fis withdrawn-see Fig. 7. 'Vithin thecasing I provide an'ear 30 within wfhichxis slidably Lmounted a pin 3l which is of such length that when its outer end is substantially lush with the casing` the locking lever 26 will be held in the position shown in Fig. 6, and `when the lever 26 is in locking` position (Fig. 7) the end vof pin 31 will extend va short distance outside of the-casing. I pro-vide a plate 32 on the door jamb in such a position that the pin 3l will strike against the sameas the door is closing and thus release `the -bolt L and permit the spring 6 to project the same into the hole 25 in nose pla-te 2l.

My lock may be. opened by means of a lever- 15 in the manner above described or a handle may be attached to the pivot pin 8.

From the above .it is apparent -that I have provided a lock which is adapted to be used in connection with doors of various descriptions and which will make it possible to close the door vgently thus avoiding theexcessive -wear and tear due to the necessity offslamming the door in the manner now common.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new is: I

l. A lock comprising a narrow rectangularhousing, a plurality of guides securedV to one side thereof, a boltsl'idable between said guides, aspring co-operating with said bolt and tending to project the same from the housingv into locking position, a bell crank pivoted to the housing' and having one end thereof pivotally connected to the bolt,a handle connected to the other end of said bell crank lever by a lost motion connection, said handleprojecting out through the housing, a notch in one side of said bolt, a locking member slidable transversely ot said ibolt and adapted to engage said .notch and hold the bolt in retracted position, a spring ,cooperating with said locking member tending :to -force it int-o locking engagement with the ciprocated in the housing from locking to` unlocking position, said means comprising a handle slidable in Vsaid housing and .connected tothe other end of .saidbell crank lever by lost motion connection, ylocking Y means movably secured to said housing, a

notch in said boltadapted to cooperate with Louis R. E. WasKINs. 

